Greens top non-partisan policy survey

Greens top non-partisan policy survey

By staff writers

9 Apr 2010

An independent website which allows users to pick a political party based on policy alone, has found that most people go for Greens with Lib Dems in second place.

www.voteforpolicies.org.uk aims to sidestep bias and traditional loyalty by getting voters to pick their favoured political policies without knowing which political party the policies have orginated from.

After 66,000 votes, the Greens have surprised political commentators as runaway leaders with over 28 per cent of the vote.

By contrast, the establishment political parties are faring less well. The Liberal Democrats were the highest scorers of the other parties with 18 per cent of the vote. Behind them Labour and the Conservatives followed with 17 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively. UKIP and the BNP lagged behind with 11 per cent and 10 per cent.

Policy areas voters are asked to pick from include crime, democracy, economy, education, environment, Europe, the NHS, immigration and welfare.

As well as the environment, Greens polled strongly on key election issues, ranking as favourites for their policies on crime, education, health/NHS, and welfare, often with a lead of over 10 per cent.

The Green Party leader, Caroline Lucas, said: "When people take the time to look at our policies in depth, they realise that not only are we not - and never have been - just a single issue party."

Lucas, who is the Green parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion, continued: "The findings of this survey echo what we've been hearing from voters up and down the country. The vast majority of voters can see the policies of the main parties aren't working and they're crying out for change."

"This makes it clear why this year the Greens are so close to making the crucial breakthrough into Westminster."

"In my target constituency of Brighton Pavilion, a recent ICM poll put us ahead of our rival parties with 35 per cent of the vote. We're bookies' favourites for the seat and increasing media interest is really fuelling our belief that we can win here."